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Dharma E. Cortés, Ph.D.
Senior Research Associate – Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Dr. Dharma E. Cortés, a native of Puerto Rico, received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico, a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Doctorate degree in Sociology from Fordham University. She also completed post-doctoral training in Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Social Medicine. Dr. Cortés is an Instructor at the Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry and a Senior Research Associate at the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is also the Director of Latino Projects at Environment & Health Group, a research company seeking technology solutions for global health.
For more than twenty years, Dr. Cortés has been conducting community-based research with Latinos in the U.S., focusing on acculturation, health, mental health, obesity prevention, and access to healthcare, including health insurance coverage. Dr. Cortés has made major contributions to the understanding of the process of acculturation, cultural, language, and literacy issues among Latinos in the United States through several of her publications and research activities. She has been principal investigator, co-investigator, and consultant to numerous studies on the delivery of health care services funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Robert Wood-Johnson Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and Massachusetts’ Center for Health Information Analysis, among others.
Dr. Cortés has served on multiple local and national boards and advisory councils, including the Men’s Health Network, the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, Our Bodies Ourselves, Latino STEM Alliance, Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, Big Sisters of Greater Boston, and The Philanthropy Connection. Currently, she is a member of the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood Federation of America; a member of the Corporation at Wheelock College, and a member of the Board of Trustees at North Shore Medical Center.
